With all the press articles sounding off about talking animal movies and the glut of CG animated films, Happy Feet comes along and makes $42 million this opening weekend. Will this change anything in these so called reporter's eyes? Will a retraction come? Will they come to their senses and realize it is the stories that have been sucking and not the number of films? Yeah, right!
My guess is that they had a horrible childhood. Their parents probably did something really terrible to them, so they strike out at everything that may remind them of those younger years. Or maybe, they are one of the many failed film students that took up a career as a film critic and are looking for every chance to lash out at animation - the bastard child of Hollywood.
The first two articles to start all of this nonsense and got the ball rolling were from a pair of gay lovers living in West Hollywood. They each wrote VERY similar stories and sent them off to two separate publications. It is obvious that they sat down and wrote them together, or else they both had the exact same horrific childhood. Whatever the case, don't confuse this hatred for these inept writers as some kind of stance on their sexual orientation. I could care less and to each their own. This is purely a jab at them as writers. After all, they are the ones that started this craziness, and the other lemmings, I mean writers, latched onto and rehashed the same garbage over and over again.
I really think that the ambiguous gay writing duo were responsible for these unneeded steaming pile of articles that have come out recently. Have to hand it to them though. They both sat down and wrote the same article together, but sold it to multiple publications under their two different names. Genious!
And that brings me back to Happy Feet. Another talking animal CG film that did well over the weekend. Thank you Happy Feet. Maybe these guys should focus on the real problem. Storytelling. Not who or what is in the story or how many we may see a year.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Time Off
Once again I had disappeared and left this blog alone. Sorry, but I rushed off on vacation with my family. We started in New York and then traveled world-right to Great Britain, Spain, France, Moscow, and finally to Australia.
Neither my wife nor myself have ever done anything like this. We enjoyed it immensely. It was nice to get away and see different parts of the world.
It doesn't appear that a lot has happened while I was away. I mean, nothing huge. More piss ass films were released and did poorly at the box office, more stupid comments from reporters that don't understand the business or refuse to actually do any research.
On the features front, Flushed Away is right around the corner and looks to be a decent film. In a future blog entry, maybe I'll talk about what a train wreck that production was. Obviously everyone knows by now the parting of Aardman and DreamWorks. Maybe this will shed some light on the situation.
I got a chance to see Open Season when I returned from vacation. Just as I had hoped, the visuals were incredible and the animation was wonderful. I tip my hat to SPA and the love they put into this picture. It shows. Sure the story seemed to borrow from here and there, but it was still enjoyable and the eye candy was worth every penny. Too bad it didn't do better in the box office. Sony says it was inline with what they had expected. Give me a break. You expected more. A $90 million film with a $23 Million opening = not good.
I'm all for plenty of animation jobs. But animated film after animated film is diluting the market. Either come up with a cheaper way to make films or expect to make less money. On the good side, this will thin out those trying to get rich quick.
Speaking of thinning out. DNA, the producers of Ant Bull and Jimmy Neutron is off the map. What was once a thriving studio is now a shell. I can't say that I thought Ant Bully or JN was a great movie, but I did have hope that these guys would survive. Maybe someday they will come back. But, I won't count on it.
Neither my wife nor myself have ever done anything like this. We enjoyed it immensely. It was nice to get away and see different parts of the world.
It doesn't appear that a lot has happened while I was away. I mean, nothing huge. More piss ass films were released and did poorly at the box office, more stupid comments from reporters that don't understand the business or refuse to actually do any research.
On the features front, Flushed Away is right around the corner and looks to be a decent film. In a future blog entry, maybe I'll talk about what a train wreck that production was. Obviously everyone knows by now the parting of Aardman and DreamWorks. Maybe this will shed some light on the situation.
I got a chance to see Open Season when I returned from vacation. Just as I had hoped, the visuals were incredible and the animation was wonderful. I tip my hat to SPA and the love they put into this picture. It shows. Sure the story seemed to borrow from here and there, but it was still enjoyable and the eye candy was worth every penny. Too bad it didn't do better in the box office. Sony says it was inline with what they had expected. Give me a break. You expected more. A $90 million film with a $23 Million opening = not good.
I'm all for plenty of animation jobs. But animated film after animated film is diluting the market. Either come up with a cheaper way to make films or expect to make less money. On the good side, this will thin out those trying to get rich quick.
Speaking of thinning out. DNA, the producers of Ant Bull and Jimmy Neutron is off the map. What was once a thriving studio is now a shell. I can't say that I thought Ant Bully or JN was a great movie, but I did have hope that these guys would survive. Maybe someday they will come back. But, I won't count on it.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Animation Mentor
Since I seem to be pissing a couple of people off with my hatred for motion capture in feature cartoon animation, I figured I should go one step further and piss off some animators that do it by hand.
Animation Mentor. That online "school" that helps newbies and experienced animators alike get better at their craft has recently released a School Demo Reel.
They are basically showing off the work from the students. Quite a bit of this stuff is top notch. Dare I say, it is even better than some of the mentors own professional and personal work. Not to slam the guys helping the students, but I think some of them are getting embarrassingly lapped by their students. Good for them!
This of course could be a result of the student getting more time to hone their shots than the pro animators get on whatever show they are working on. And of course we know that working on some other directors vision can sometimes be stiffling. Whatever the case, it gives me hope that some of the new guys are going to be half way decent. Unfortunately, most of the other schools are turning out terrible animators/artists/TD's.
Animation Mentor. That online "school" that helps newbies and experienced animators alike get better at their craft has recently released a School Demo Reel.
They are basically showing off the work from the students. Quite a bit of this stuff is top notch. Dare I say, it is even better than some of the mentors own professional and personal work. Not to slam the guys helping the students, but I think some of them are getting embarrassingly lapped by their students. Good for them!
This of course could be a result of the student getting more time to hone their shots than the pro animators get on whatever show they are working on. And of course we know that working on some other directors vision can sometimes be stiffling. Whatever the case, it gives me hope that some of the new guys are going to be half way decent. Unfortunately, most of the other schools are turning out terrible animators/artists/TD's.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Disney Loves Motion Capture
Disney decided to get Robert Zemeckis and his love for motion capture over to the mouse. Now, Imagemovers (Zemeckis' company) will be under the Disney banner and ultimately be John Lasseters responsibility.
I can't help but wonder what Lasseter thinks of Imagemovers and motion capture in general. I'm sure his official line is "it is the story that is important". But, deep down... Does he have a hatred for motion capture that some of us do? I want to think so. If he is into that whole motion capture thing, I can only think less of him.
I can't help but wonder what Lasseter thinks of Imagemovers and motion capture in general. I'm sure his official line is "it is the story that is important". But, deep down... Does he have a hatred for motion capture that some of us do? I want to think so. If he is into that whole motion capture thing, I can only think less of him.
Monday, July 31, 2006
You Are A Menace To Animation Society!
I stopped working as an animator many years ago. Therefore, the following rant has absolutely nothing to do with fear of losing my job. It comes from what I see as a menace to animated films.
If you are an “animator” working on a motion capture film and you are tweaking graphs, cleaning up data, etc, etc. Shame on you. Quit your job and get a real animation job because you are doing nothing but hurting or even blowing your chances of getting real employment as an animator where hand-keyed work is valued.
Your colleagues look at you as second-rate data manipulators and will never give you props if you go seek a job at a studio that relies on hand animation. You are only contributing to the nonsense that drives these producers to use motion capture in the first place.
You are a menace to animation society.
Do these words piss you off? Good! I hope so. I hope they piss you off so much that you prove to me and everyone else that you are an animator worth a piss and will get on a project where you animate everything, not just relegated to cleaning up a computer's mess and leave motion capture behind -forever-.
Stand up! Prove that you are a real animator and turn down these jobs. Are you so desperate for work? Do you really think that motion capture is animation? Do you really think that you are respected in our industry?
Maybe you are in such a financial position where you have to take on these jobs. Maybe you even like the whole motion capture idea or look. That’s fine. Just don’t call yourself an animator or expect props from those the real animators that laugh behind your back.
If you are an “animator” working on a motion capture film and you are tweaking graphs, cleaning up data, etc, etc. Shame on you. Quit your job and get a real animation job because you are doing nothing but hurting or even blowing your chances of getting real employment as an animator where hand-keyed work is valued.
Your colleagues look at you as second-rate data manipulators and will never give you props if you go seek a job at a studio that relies on hand animation. You are only contributing to the nonsense that drives these producers to use motion capture in the first place.
You are a menace to animation society.
Do these words piss you off? Good! I hope so. I hope they piss you off so much that you prove to me and everyone else that you are an animator worth a piss and will get on a project where you animate everything, not just relegated to cleaning up a computer's mess and leave motion capture behind -forever-.
Stand up! Prove that you are a real animator and turn down these jobs. Are you so desperate for work? Do you really think that motion capture is animation? Do you really think that you are respected in our industry?
Maybe you are in such a financial position where you have to take on these jobs. Maybe you even like the whole motion capture idea or look. That’s fine. Just don’t call yourself an animator or expect props from those the real animators that laugh behind your back.
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